Co-pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/313,643 filed Nov. 21, 2008 discloses a new autonomous hull robot including turbines driven by water flowing past the hull while the vessel is underway. The turbines operate (e.g., power) the cleaning and the drive subsystems of the robot.
Most prior hull cleaning robots suffer from several shortcomings. Typically, the robots are connected to a cable and powered and controlled by an on-board power supply and control subsystem and are able to operate only on a stationary vessel.